We are starting this post with a photo of Seto "Screw The Rules" Kaiba because we are about to talk about my LEAST FAVORITE GAME... and how to beat it!
A few months ago, I had a Follower ask me this:
"How does a [person] become popular?... I want to encourage people to follow there dreams even if it means hard work."
Oooooooh, "Popular." It is such a FICKLE word, and a game which is not so much a game as "never ending spiral of suck." (DISCLAIMER! : I don’t consider myself “Popular.” Friendly? Social? Outgoing? Yes yes sure, I am DEFINITELY those. But "Popular" is nebulous and shifty and has such an excess of baggage and I prefer to avoid it! Now then:)
Immediate thought process: "Oh crap, am I in some sort of position of authority on the subject?! I JUST TAKE PHOTOS OF TROLLS AND PIRATES AND ALIENS!"
Okay. Deep breath. What advice could I give that would be HELPFUL?
Just saying "Follow your dreams, work hard!" wouldn't cut it. I remember VERY clearly just starting on the wilds of the internet. Every comment was hoarded and over-analyzed, every Follower gained celebrated, every one lost cause for despair. How I was ever going to reach people? *cue violins*
Other photographers and artists were ALL doing SO MUCH BETTER! More Comments, More Feedback, More Everything! I really felt down. Was there some sort of Rule Book for Popular?
(Or did people just sell their souls and enter into a Contract?)
"Follow your dreams and be patient" DID NOT HELP ME, or make me any less obsessive over numbers, or grow them any faster.
So if you're asking me how to be "Popular" - there isn't a formula. And you're asking the wrong question.
Ask instead
"Are we having fun?"
When I began asking THAT, the game changed. Instead of trying to compete over a finite resource (Followers, attention spans, etc.), suddenly I was collaborating! We can always make more stuff! And the more we make, the more there is to share!
"Popular" is a game no one wins. The rules change and the line moves and someone keeps stealing the frisbee and chucking it into a tree.
"Fun" is much more... well... THIS!
I take photos of awesome people, and other awesome people seem to like them. Together we are all unabashed nerds, who come up with many fantastic and terrible ideas, and are very silly.
It is VERY COOL if the internet agrees with what I think is funny/ cool/ awesome. But I can spend 15 minutes on a random GIF and have it explode more then a project I spent 15 weeks on. And you know what?
That's okay.
1.) Am I having fun?
2.) Did the other people have fun?
HELL YES! *high fives all around!*
CREDITS:
Yu-gi-oh!: Leaux as Kaiba
Kyubei: toppledcards
My Little Pony: Applejack| Pinkie Pie| Rainbow Dash| Spitfire| Soarin| Big Mac
Little Mermaid: Realgingerale as Ariel, Steve as Captain Jack
Eridan: Norway
Scott McNeil and Perry The Platypus: As Themselves
Tiger and Bunny: Gaelinncosplay and LunaRiven
Cowboy Bebop: Anne and Max
WTNV: Norway as Cecil, Beckah as Carlos The Scientist
Doctor Who: Jacob as The Doctor, Elendriel as Romana
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